Smugglers open new routes to Europe for migrants

Tunisian smugglers are offering migrants seeking a fresh start in Europe a new route from Africa to Italy. Thousands have made the dangerous 300 km journey between Libya and the Italian island of Lampedusa this year and hundreds more are thought to have died trying to crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach European shores.

A crackdown by the Libyan coastguard in August has forced migrants and smugglers to find alternatives, giving Tunisians an opportunity to sell spots on overcrowded boats between the Gulf of Tunis and Sicily.

The number of migrants trying to make the trip, which can be as short as 150 km, has jumped in the last month while fewer are leaving from Libya.

Most are Tunisians fleeing economic hardship at home. Others want to avoid increased navy patrols off Lampedusa and prefer to arrive on the larger island of Sicily where it is easier pass unnoticed. Penalties for smugglers and migrants are also light in Tunisia if you are caught.

"The route to Sicily is not as heavily guarded as to Lampedusa," said Hassen Rebhi, captain of a Tunisian coast guard captain whose boat patrols the waters off Tunisia.

Libya is still a much bigger departure point for Europe with 108,000 reaching Italy from Libya in 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). But Tunisian arrivals are on the rise with 1,400 in September, up from 1,350 in the first 8 months of the year. Many others are believed to have reached Sicily but escaped detection and identification.

Tunisian coast guard officials said they had foiled 900 departure attempts in September compared to 170 in August. About 80 percent are Tunisians but there are also Libyans, Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans.

The route from Tunisia has been active before - some 20,000 left in 2011 as Tunisians tried to escape political turmoil when longtime president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted. Tunisia won international praise for its democratic progress and the numbers seeking to leave fell but successive governments have failed to create jobs for young people.

European officials are worried about an influx of Tunisian militants. Thousands of Tunisians have left to fight for Daesh. Italy last week urged Tunisia to increase patrols, an Italian interior ministry spokesman said. It also wants to increase the number of Tunisians that can be repatriated from 30 a week to at least 80.

Tunisia's navy has stepped up controls but the arrival of many in Sicily celebrating and dancing on beaches in social media posts is a powerful draw. All those in the inflatable vowed to try the crossing again. "I prefer to die in the sea than to stay in Tunisia without dignity," said Hassan Chouchan, a 27-year-old who had lost his job as an entertainer in a tourist resort. "Please let us continue our journey. We do not want to stay here," he shouted at the coast guard.